With the large number of mod
accessories out now days, it's hard to set a company apart from the
rest. ATake, a relatively new manufacturer, has recently started
distributing their products in the US. We are going to take a look at
their UV LED 80mm case fan. These fans at first look appear to use a
very high grade plastic, extremely different then what I am used to
seeing in a UV reactive plastic. I can't wait to take a closer look and
put this fan to the test.

If you have
seen one case fan install, you've pretty
much have seen them all. ATake
provides both hookups for a 3-pin motherboard or 4-pin Molex connector, so
no need to worry about having extra power. I will not be getting into
the actual install, seeing that it is a simple procedure highlighted
numerous times. If you have any questions, however, feel free to contact me
via e-mail: preitschky@marnscda.com.

Appearance:

With case fans, most
of the time appearance makes a big difference with the majority of the
new cases coming stock with some sort of window to view the insides.
That being said, ATake makes a great looking fan, the dual color UV
sensitive plastics light up nicely. Not to mention the UV
sensitive power connectors for that little extra flair. This fan also comes with LED
lights embedded into the outer frame of the fan to light up your case
and bring out the UV colors. ATake makes 5 different colors including a
transparent fan, in case your color scheme is more clean. One very
important note about the plastics themselves: with most UV reactive
plastics, they use a milky, almost matte finish to help bring out the
reflective nature of the coating. ATake uses a very clear, smooth
finish. This gives the fan a very unique look, one I personally like.
See the photos below and make up your own conclusions...

Performance:

Performance of
a case fan is pretty important when talking about keeping your PC cool.
It
is better to pay an extra dollar or two for a fan that pushes a bit more
air, the alternative can be much more costly. The ATake UV fan
runs at a very constant 2411 RPM's. I had it in a PC for over a week
routinely checking the RPM speed and the variation in RPM's was less
then two over the week period. Please note that this is only checking the
speed in average of 10 times per day, so there is a chance it varies more.
However,
I was very impressed with the stability of this fan. The
noise level was very low as well. With the case closed it was almost non
existent but with the case open, the noise is a bit more. Within ATake's
parameters though, around 26dB to 29dB. Please note there are other fans
running, so the noise level might not be exact and every fan runs a
little bit different so your results may vary.

Pros:

Performs well.

Very quiet.

Comes with converter and hardware.

Appearance is appealing.

UV reactive 3 to 4 pin converter is a nice
touch.

Cons:

Hardware could be of a
little bit
better quality. ATake uses a softer metal, which is easy to strip if not using the
correct size screwdriver. Not a huge issue though.

Conclusion:

This is a very nice quality fan that not only pushes air well,
but is also very quiet in comparison to many of its competitors. Pending the
price of this cooler, it will do well and I will definitely recommend
this product, as long as it is priced under 15 USD. Unfortunately, this
product has not been released in the US market yet, so I can't find
anyone selling it to see the actual sale price. Overall, I
am happy to give the ATake UV LED fan our Blue Ribbon Seal of Approval!
Updated Info Suggested retail price 7.99 USD
01/25/05